First Grader - Collage Artist - Isabel Dreher

Isabel Dreher is a first grader from New Hampshire who has a creative streak that presents itself in all areas of her life--from her clothing, to her love of all things artistic, to her imagination. Since Isabel has begun to incorporate ephemera into her collage work, I asked her mother, Tonya Dreher, a photographer and editor, to share some of Isabel's work here. As loyal readers know, a big part of what I'm trying to accomplish with the ephemera blog is to show how ephemera is used and enjoyed by people--artists, researchers, genealogist, writers, historians, etc.--with a wide variety of interests. Isabel is a prime example.

Isabel's mom says, "She usually starts with a canvas or piece of cardboard and paints the background with acrylics. Then she pulls out my bins of vintage 'stuff' which includes old photographs and schoolbooks, sheet music, maps, wrapping paper, postcards, letters, and tons of other do-dads. Sometimes she has a theme in mind, like a Valentine collage and other times she just cuts out what she likes. She arranges everything and uses a glue stick to paste the pieces on. Then she goes over it all with gel medium, which gives it a finished look. I often give her 'new' materials to do crafts with as well, but she is really drawn to the 'old' things. She likes the way the old magazines smell and we often talk about the people in the photographs and what their lives might have been like – which I think inspires her a bit.

Tonya recently asked Isabel why she liked doing collage with vintage materials and this is what she said: "I liked puzzles when I was little and now I like to fit all the old pictures and shapes together to make a new picture - And it's always different. I like using really old things that have been in a box for a long time, and I like the photos from the olden days."

Spoken like a true lover of ephemera. Welcome to the world of old paper, Isabel. And thanks for sharing your work on the ephemera blog. To see more of Isabel's work, click here.

If you're someone who uses ephemera in your art, research, or work, please send me an email. I'd like to hear about what you're doing with ephemera, and possibly feature your endeavors here.

Comments

[Marie Bakewell]

Isabel you are a great artist. Keep up the good work. I am so proud of you. Nana